The Interview
by Duke157
Summary: After many failed interview attempts, Pansy finally attends a job interview at a specific marketing firm, what will she find out there? Muggle AU Rated T for language


**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.**

 **Word Count: 2364**

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 **Challenge:** Are you Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge

 **Prompt:** 593\. (word) Qualities

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Pansy straightened her dress once again as she waited in the lobby for her name to be called. She had been waiting for the entire afternoon for her name to be called up; but the receptionist disregarded both her angry, and pleading glares. Now, she was the last person to be called, and she was seriously considering the decision to just walk out.

But she really needed the money – her modelling classes hadn't been easy on her wallet; and if she was being completely honest, neither were the countless shopping sprees. She needed the job to pay her bills, especially after her dad cut her off for spending too much.

Pansy was wearing her favorite red dress shirt underneath her black suit, the shortest black pencil skirt in her wardrobe, and red high heels that accentuated her butt in all the right ways – she would never admit it but she was getting quite desperate by this point, failing eight job interviews in a row could get really disheartening.

She readjusted her shirt so just the top of her cleavage would be on display to the interviewer, prompting the receptionist to scoff. Pansy eyed her angrily for another few seconds before returning to her dress.

Suddenly, the door swung wide open and the guy who walked in before her came out with a huge smile across his face. He gave Pansy a pat on shoulder along with a "Good Luck", before he disappeared behind the exit. Pansy shot the receptionist a questioning look, and received a curt nod in response. Adjusting her cleavage one last time, Pansy stepped into the meeting room.

"Good Evening." She heard a woman speak as she entered. Pansy cursed herself internally – _Of course it would be a woman, no wonder that bitch was laughing at me._

"Good eve-… Hermione Granger?!" Pansy exclaimed.

"Ah yes, Pansy Parkinson. Good to see you again; it's been a while since we've last met." Hermione motioned for Pansy to sit down. "Right, could you hand me your resume?"

Pansy sat slowly lowered herself onto the seat in front of her; digging out her resume from her bag in the process. She resisted the urge to make fun of Hermione once again for her abysmal fashion decisions, or the fact that she still looked like a lesbian even a decade later; which would undoubtedly bring up her days of bullying her prospective boss, and as of now – her only chance of getting a decently paying job. Daphne, Draco, Blaise, and Pansy might've had a blast toying with the _'dyke'_ , but Pansy was sure Hermione would be telling a different story.

Hermione scanned Pansy's resume for a few minutes, before turning to the girl in question. "So, you've been working with a social media firm for the past few months. As far as I recall, you were extremely interested in modelling – based on your outfits and random hallway declarations. Can you tell me what happened there?"

Pansy stiffened – she had been trying to hide her failures in that line of work from every interview she's attended; seems like she wouldn't be able to avoid it this time. "It didn't work out. They… wanted me to be taller."

"Hmm." Hermione nodded as she returned to the resume. Another minute later, she reached into the desk drawer next to her, and pulled out a form. "Fill this."

Pansy glossed over the entire form once – the form had two pages in total, the first seemed to be a questionnaire about the candidate, while the second seemed more like a quick test with multiple choice questions. Grabbing a pen from her bag before setting it aside, Pansy got to work on the questionnaire.

After she was done, Pansy handed in her sheet to Hermione. Hermione scanned through this sheet as well for another few minutes, before turning to the anxious girl sitting in front of her.

"Well, I guess we're done here." Hermione set aside Pansy's resume and questionnaire.

"What?" Pansy exclaimed. "Did I get the job?"

"Unfortunately, you did not, but-" Hermione started, but she was immediately cut off by an irate Pansy Parkinson.

"But what?! It's been hardly ten minutes since I walked in through the door, and you say you're absolutely sure that I'm not good for the job? Meanwhile, I've had to wait in the lobby with that stupid bitch of a receptionist, while you held hour-long interviews for each and every candidate that showed up before me. What kind of bullshit is this?" Pansy erupted.

"I'm sure-"

"Then I'm sure this decision is motivated by that grudge you've been holding against me. That was a fucking decade ago while we were in fucking high school, are you really going to hold that over the source of my livelihood. Are you really that petty, Granger? Are you really that fucking petty that you would hold what – comments about your fashion sense and stupid lesbian taunts – over my fucking life?!"

"No. I am not doing this to satiate some stupid grudge, Parkinson; I don't really care about what you did to me anymore. Don't get me wrong, you did hurt me pretty badly back then; but I'm in a better place now. And someone has shown me that a bully like you can repent for your mistakes, given a decade's time. This isn't about that." Hermione was about to continue, when Pansy interjected.

"Then what could this possibly be about?"

Hermione placed her hand firmly on the desk. "I was going to offer you another job. The job you applied for is far too advanced for you, and it'll be difficult for me to justify to anyone why I would choose you over some of the other candidates – you scored below par on the test, you switched careers mid-way, you have no formal education on the topic of marketing beyond a few workshops, and two of the other candidates were Harvard graduates. Even you didn't believe that you would get the job without some assistance." Hermione waved at Pansy's chest area.

Pansy clutched the top of her shirt and closed it with her fist.

Hermione continued with her explanation. "But we have another spot open that I had to fill. It won't pay as well as the job you were hoping for, but I think you'd be suitable for it and that it will be a way for you to get into the marketing world. You'd have a different opinion on things coming from your previous job, and I thought that would be helpful in this place. Those qualities are a rarity in this business, as there isn't any sort of formal education for that. At least, I thought about that until your outburst back then; now, I'm not so sure I should offer you the job."

Pansy swallowed the lump in her throat – another interview down the drain – and this time, it was her big fat mouth. Internally cursing herself, Pansy asked. "What was the job going to be?"

"I was going to offer you to be my personal assistant; but if you still think I hold a grudge, or are willing to throw that excuse in my face every time I do something that might upset you, then we have a serious problem." Hermione warned.

"I promise, I won't do that. I'll… I can… I will do anything." Pansy admitted.

Hermione stared at Pansy in shock, she never thought her former bully would be so desperate for a job that she would agree to doing anything for it.

"Hmm… alright then. I'll see you on work next Monday." Hermione responded.

Pansy couldn't believe it, Hermione actually offered her the job. After that regrettable outburst and Hermione's explanation afterwards, Pansy was sure she had squandered another opportunity. She gave Hermione a hug out of elation, smothering her breasts in the shorter woman's face.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Hermione pushed her off slowly. "Alright then, I have to clear all this stuff up and leave soon. So…"

"Right, I'll be on my way. Thank you once again." Pansy quickly gathered all her stuff and left the room. She didn't even care for the weird look the receptionist was giving her as she left.

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Later, as Pansy stood outside the building entrance just soaking in the fact that she actually got a job after so many failed interviews, she noticed someone walking towards the building from the parking lot. A familiar face that she hadn't seen since she left high school – her former best friend, Daphne Greengrass.

"Daphne! Is that you?" Pansy exclaimed.

"Pans! What are you doing here?" Daphne replied, checking towards the elevator.

"I just got a job here; and do you know who my interviewer was? Bushy-face Granger." Pansy laughed, oblivious to the look Daphne shot her. "I cannot believe that I met two people from my high school on the same night. What a coincidence, eh?"

"Pans, I-" Something in the corner of her eye stopped Daphne in her tracks.

"Daph, I got tired of waiting for you upstairs." Hermione strolled out of the elevator towards the two girls. "Why are you staring at me like I have a cat's face?"

Hermione walked over to her much taller girlfriend and kissed her on the lips. "What's wrong?" Hermione followed her shocked girlfriend's eyes to an even more perplexed Pansy Parkinson. "Oh her? She's going to be my personal assistant, if she didn't find out tonight, she'd have found out on Monday; though I am a little peeved that I didn't get to tell you before you met her again."

When neither of the other two girls responded, Hermione decided to change their plans for the evening. "You know what, why don't we all go out for dinner tonight? Unless, you already made something for us back at home?" Hermione nudged her girlfriend.

"No." Daphne responded softly, still in shock.

"Perfect." Hermione turned to Daphne's former best friend. "And do you have plans?"

Pansy's response was similar to Daphne's.

"That's settled then, come on." Hermione grabbed the keys to Daphne's car and started walking to the parking lot.

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The car ride to the restaurant had been silent – Hermione drove, Daphne stared out the window, and Pansy kept staring between the other two members in the car. Finally, after the group settled down and ordered, Hermione questioned Pansy. "So, don't you have anything say, or ask?"

After a moment's pause, Pansy asked. "How?"

Hermione was about to answer her, but Daphne started before she could say anything. "We met in college. On my parents' insistence, I took a year off so I could study and get into a better college than the place I initially got in. Somehow, it worked out and I got into the same college where she joined, but I didn't know that at the time. A few months later, we met in our college's GSA, which I joined after I finally gathered the courage to come out to my friends and family. It took me nearly three years to convince her that I wouldn't be as mean and nasty to her as I was back in high school, but I persisted and she eventually gave in. After that, we remained friends for a few months until she asked me out one day. By that point, it was quite obvious that I wanted her just as much as she wanted me, so I accepted; we've been together since."

By the end of her speech, Daphne's hands were shivering. Hermione enclosed her girlfriend's hand in her own under the table, softly rubbing it in an attempt to calm her down. Hermione internally berated herself for suggesting this endeavor, without the consent of her girlfriend. It had slipped her mind that Pansy might've affected Daphne as much as she might've affected her back then.

Daphne gave Hermione a mellow smile; that calmed her internal conflict a little bit.

"When you were in high school, were you..." Pansy trailed off.

"I think so. Through most of sophomore and junior years, I was still questioning, but I think I knew by senior year. At that point, I didn't think it would be worth coming out to face my hypocrisy." Daphne turned her head towards Hermione and planted a delicate kiss. "Although, I ultimately ended up doing that anyway. Life is weird sometimes."

"Hmm… I guess I have to do the same, now." Pansy shifted her eyes back and forth between the two members of the couple.

Daphne turned to her girlfriend. "Love, can you give us a minute?"

Hermione nodded. "Text me when you're done."

"Okay."

After Hermione disappeared behind the bathroom door, Daphne turned to her former best friend with a stern look on her face. "I know this might seem hypocritical right now, or whatever; but I saw how much we had hurt Hermione back when she was high school, and I will not stand for that again. If I find out that you, as her PA, at any point decide to replicate that kind of behavior, I don't care what you do anymore, I will ensure that you regret it. Understand?"

Pansy gulped audibly. "Yes ma'am."

Daphne took a deep breath. "Good."

"But Daphne, I really didn't… know. Wow, I must've hurt you pretty badly as well. I… I'm sorry for… for-"

Daphne cut her off. "It's okay, you didn't know and we were stupid teenagers; I participated in it even after I knew I was into girls – that's actually much worse. But as long as you don't hurt Hermione now, I think I can accept your apology."

"I… I can do that."

"Okay. I'm calling her back now." Daphne grabbed her phone and texted Hermione.

The bushy-haired girl returned to the table, happy that her girlfriend finally looked like she usually did. The weight Hermione had been carrying around for the past hour – worrying whether this was the right move, had finally slid off her shoulders.

The group enjoyed a quiet meal of seafood for dinner; the awkwardness still existent between them, but Hermione could see that things were going to get easier as time passed.

Someday soon, they would be okay.

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